


unsaid, unheard

by awkwardspaceturtle (CastelloFlare)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 20:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7546475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastelloFlare/pseuds/awkwardspaceturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’ll just be here, waiting for you. And I love you, man… okay?”</p><p>Shiro chuckled; ‘love’ wasn’t exactly a word that was often exchanged in the garrison, and especially not in this endearing, heartfelt manner.</p><p> </p><p>(In which the Castle of Lions has finally landed on Earth, and Shiro finds something in his old laptop.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i especially liked writing this.  
> and yes, i slacked off again at work to do this  
> pls don't report me to the government just yet

 

The trip back to Earth was full of excitement, coupled with a gut wrenching anxiety.

For one thing, there was the garrison, the place where the paladins were most likely unwelcome – one was expelled, another a hero fallen from grace with the words _‘pilot error’_ etched across his name, and the other three were possibly already dropped out from the program for their long indefinite and unexcused absence. However, with the various life-threatening experiences they had in space, dealing with the garrison felt trivial, except for the fact that they had to investigate the people who had hidden the truth of the Kerberos Mission from the public, or at least to the families of those onboard.

But for now, their first priority was their own respective families.

Once on Earth, Hunk and Lance spent no time in saying their _‘hasta la later’s_ to everyone, eager to finally reunite with the loved ones who only thought they were gone from home because of the garrison, and not because they were busy defending the universe.

Allura and Coran had decided to accompany Pidge back home to her mother – not because she was a girl, or that she looked like an easy victim of a hit-and-run, but because her mother could use the company after being alone for so long, and Allura seriously wanted to have some girl bonding time with the Green Paladin. Coran had set the cloaking features of the ship so that no nosy humans could discover it.

“Well, I guess I’d head back to the shack,” Keith said nonchalantly as he and Shiro walked along the ramps to exit the ship. Allura had given them access to some hovercrafts so that the lions could stay inside their hangars undisturbed. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

Shiro was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Then, in a rather nervous and uncertain tone, he spoke.

“You know, my parents, uh,” he began, eyes cast anywhere but on Keith, who had paused from climbing into his hovercraft to listen to him. “They still don’t know I’m here, or that I temporarily crash-landed here some time ago.”

Keith climbed back down to face Shiro, mirroring the same sadness in his eyes. “Shiro, I – I can’t imagine how difficult it is—”

“What I mean is,” Shiro started, startling them both. “I mean, it has been _a while_ , and they probably don’t think I’d be coming back, but I need to let them see me. I need to see them as well… and I thought maybe they’d like to see _you_ , too”

Keith’s initial reaction was to blush furiously and look away, and Shiro also did the same, albeit with much more poise and less sweating. This was supposed to be a normal conversation between two mature teenaged friends. Why did it suddenly feel a little complicated?

“Wait, does that mean you haven’t gone to visit them while I was away?” Shiro ventured, reading Keith’s reaction as embarrassment for not being a very pleasant and approachable family friend. “You’re practically another son to them.”

“No…! I mean,” Keith stuttered, busted. “I tried to, I really did. But I couldn’t face them. I couldn’t stand to see them because we’d only be sad together.”

Shiro felt a pang of guilt and hurt in his chest. Of course. He’d done this to them. The Galra did this to them. He slowly reached up and planted his hand firmly on Keith’s shoulder, a gesture he hoped would bring comfort.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” he said, his voice quiet.

Keith’s smile looked painful, forced. “There’s nothing to apologize about, Shiro.”

 

 

The reunion of the Shirogane family was as Shiro had expected it to be – a lot of crying, yelling, questioning, some throwing of shoes (his mother was hysterical), and a lot of hugging afterwards. The noise had roused the little kids from sleep, and they had ran out of their rooms once they heard their brother Shiro was back, and without warning, tackled him to the ground with Keith in tow.

It was already late at night, and for an old couple to suddenly be visited by their son who just got back from the dead, accompanied by the friend who’d also never shown himself for an entire year, was too much excitement to handle for one night, and Shiro gently urged them to retire early to bed. His siblings complained and started to yell and cry again, wanting him to sleep in their rooms. His mother had also put up a fight, not wanting to let go of her two lost boys just yet. His dad was a lot more like Shiro in demeanor, and calmly yet authoritatively quieted everyone down by assuring them they could share their brother in the morning.

 _She’s just very happy to see the two of you, kiddo_ , he said. _We all are._

Shiro knew what else he wasn’t saying. They were scared this wasn’t real. They were scared that when they woke up the next morning, the house would be void of him, just as it has been for the past year and a few months. It was heartbreaking.

He turned to Keith, whose eyes were as red and puffy as his, and chuckled at how two grown teenagers such as themselves who have faced death countless times on planets far from home, could still be easily moved to a million liters of tears with the warm embrace of family.

Without warning, he pulled Keith close for one final awkward squeeze, his siblings joining in unison, grabbing for their legs and stomachs.

That night, the big Shirogane family, along with a very embarrassed yet happy Keith, decided to all sleep in the living room together.

 

 

Shiro’s room was just as how he’d remembered it – minimalist, with cream walls decorated by a single poster of a launching ship, a single bed, a window covered by a metal grey curtain. His personal belongings ranged from the only things considered to be decorations in the room; the many figurines of a variety of aircrafts, ranging from commercial to military, a shelf of color-coded books in a corner, and a desk table that housed his old laptop, more figurines of pilots and their planes, a lamp. His room was the only one out of his siblings to have its own shower.

“Here’s something you could slip into,” Shiro said as he threw some garments and a towel over to Keith. His clothes smelled fresh and were neatly pressed, making his heart feel warm and bittersweet at the thought of his family taking care of his room even with the impossibility of his return looming within the house for a long time.

"Thanks,” was Keith’s curt reply. “You sure you don’t want to get in first?”

“Yeah, I think I want to just sit here a while, you know, breath in the air of my old room.”

“It’s still your room,” Keith smiled gently. Then the door to the shower slid open as he neared it. “I’m getting in.”

 

 

There really wasn’t much to look into, he wistfully noted. The figurines were all wiped and thus retained their original luster; the books on his shelves he’d already familiarized for his training at the garrison. The only thing left to look at was his laptop, gingerly set on top of the desk.

He sat down on the chair facing the desk, opened the laptop with fervent curiosity – does it still work after having been abandoned for so long? Would he need to update anything? He watched as the screen lit up, different mechanisms whirring and buzzing to life within the contraption.

When at last his desktop showed up and all the different familiar icons and folders materialized onscreen, he immediately spotted the Gallery folder that contained memories of his past, his life captured through the lens of a camera, pictures holding large chunks of information of how Takashi Shirogane, the garrison prodigy and pilot, had lived before the Kerberos Mission. It seemed so long ago, as if within a year he had grown decades old, his mind, body and soul all beaten down countless times. He fought through it all, countless times.

The thought triggered unpleasant memories of his captivity under the Galra Empire, which still haunted him in his sleep and a few times when he was awake. He felt something in his chest sink low, making him feel uncomfortable and nauseated. The most prominent feeling of all was a great heaviness within and around him as coiled anger for the Galra and fear of captivity gripped him with an invisible iron glove.

What snapped him out of it was the simple mechanic sound of a notification popping up on his desktop wall. Shiro looked up from where his head had been in his hands. Someone had sent him a message, dated more than a year ago, more accurately on the day of the Kerberos Mission take off. Who would have thought of sending him a message on the day he was leaving?

Curious and puzzled, Shiro clicked on the blinking box, and waited.

 

 

_Hey, Shiro. It’s me, Keith. I mean, of course you’d know because it’s a video message._

Shiro sat back on his chair, amused. This was the first time Keith had sent him a video message, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t checked his email on the morning of the rocket launch to Kerberos. The Keith onscreen didn’t look any different from how he’d looked to Shiro recently –strong and fierce, a little broken and yet full of life.

_So, uh, I just wanted to say –_

Then Keith looked around, as if looking for a script or the right words on the walls of his dorm room, then his head snapped back at the camera as if he’d found them in an instant.

_\--  Congratulations. For finally becoming a legitimate pilot. I’m real proud of you, and of being your friend, although I might have told you that countless times already._

Shiro chuckled heartily, remembering how his junior had congratulated him over and over after announcements had been made during the weekly general assembly.

_So, Kerberos Moon, huh? Way over there on Pluto. That’s a really long way from home. You’re the youngest ever to pilot his own ship, and to be assigned to take the Holts to the furthest destination Earth has ever dared to go in like, forever… That’s incredible, Shiro. Just… incredible._

Keith’s warm smile turned rueful, his eyes instantly lost the luster of excitement it had just a second ago. Unexpectedly, the congratulatory and merry ambiance of the video plunged into that of sadness and… regret? Shiro couldn’t quite tell. Keith suddenly looked like he was about to break down, and fighting hard not to.

_It’s going to be weird not seeing you in the hallways or the training rooms for a while. I’m so used to being around you that I bet it’s going to get a little lonely without you to spar or anything._

Shiro felt a tinge of nostalgia and guilt as he watched Keith distractedly fumble with the edges of his sleeve.

_But what the heck, it’s only going to be a short while, right? You’re gonna be back soon and things will be back to how they were, except you’ll get swarmed by people every time, I’m sure._

Keith flashed the happiest smile he could give, but the sadness in his eyes gave him away. Keith paused and swallowed before speaking again.

_I’ll just be here, waiting for you. And I love you, man… okay?_

Shiro chuckled; _‘love’_ wasn’t exactly a word that was often exchanged in the garrison, and especially not in this endearing, heartfelt manner. Keith had grown incongruously quiet after saying that, a hand absently rubbing at the back of his neck, his eyes cast downward, cheeks red.

 _…And I didn’t mean that in like a bro or buddy way. I mean, I_ do _love you like a brother, but it’s also more complicated than that and – I mean –_ oh god _– why am I even saying this._

Keith clutched his head in both hands, eyes looking upward as he exhaled a heavy huff. He went quiet once again, and he seemed to kick the floor, making his swiveling chair rotate in its place, his head tipped back and facing the ceiling. He seemed to be either stalling or rethinking what he was about to say.

Watching him, Shiro felt something bubble up in his chest, what that warmth was, he couldn’t quite figure out. What he was sure of was the sudden apparent clarity in his mind – as if it had been foggy until Keith dropped those words.

Finally, Keith stopped spinning in his chair in unease and faced the camera once more.

_Whew, okay._

The he breathed deeply a few more times before addressing the camera.

_Shiro, we might need to talk together when you get back. So if you’re still here at the end of the video and not weirded out by what I just said, I’ll be… I don’t know, but I’ll still be waiting for you. You know I’m always around._

Then he fell into another lapse of silence, his eyebrows furrowed as if there was more that needed to be said yet cannot be said, at least not yet. Whatever it was, he bottled it up inside, closing his eyes and looking like his heart was going to burst into flames. Like _he_ was going to burst into flames. Then with one last look at the camera, he spoke, his voice a decibel lower.

_Be safe, Shiro._

And the video ended, just like that.

 

 

Shiro sat motionless in his chair, contemplating, brown eyes locked on to the translucent screen which froze on the last second of the video, which was of Keith’s face looking intently at the camera. A myriad of thoughts was rushing through his mind like speeding bullets – Keith’s feelings for him and what it meant for the both of them; Keith bottling everything up for a year and even far after they’d been reunited; Keith, much more alone with the thought of him disappearing after news about the failure of the mission reached the garrison; _his_ own feelings about the Red Paladin and memories of the times they had spent together at the garrison.

He didn’t hear it well enough until now, but his heartbeat had risen to a deafening vibrato and was echoing wildly inside his ribcage, but it wasn’t the same as when his heart palpitates during a panic attack. This was – something else.

Then he noticed it:

_The quietness._

The shower wasn’t running anymore.

He abruptly stood up and turned around, and time inexplicably slowed down as his eyes found Keith, standing by the bathroom door and clad only with a towel around his waist and another one draped over his head, drops of water falling from the tips of his wet hair onto his bare chest and torso. Eyes downcast, cheeks burned crimson, feet planted on the rug. Then came a sound akin to someone choking on their tears –

“I—”

And Shiro lunged from where he stood, his body moving before his mind can tell it what to do, arms outstretched and reaching for Keith, for lost time and second chances. In the instant he felt Keith’s chest thumping against his own, he knew they both shared the same rhythm.

He understood, and nothing needed to be said.

At least, not _yet_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wanted to write something in celebration of the confirmation of the paladins being college students  
> so here's some tender sheith ohohoho

The infiniteness of space, the beauty of a million twinkling stars, the indescribable thrill of piloting an aircraft – all these experiences, these wonders, all fall pale in contrast with the sensation of being gently held by Shiro.

They’re lying on the bed, hands lost in each other’s hair neck shoulders cheeks, eyes searching the other’s face for lost time, the comfort of familiarity, a promise of a future. Keith’s entire body burns where it meets Shiro, igniting his chest, his lungs his arms his legs.

Before him, in the soft light of the room, Shiro’s smile is warmer than any blanket, brighter than the thin slivers of moon seeping through the curtains.

“What took you so long to tell me?” he says, and his little chuckle at the end makes Keith’s stomach erupt with butterflies. Blood rises to his cheeks as Shiro’s tender eyes strip him of any barricade, the rawness of this newfound vulnerability prompting Keith to shed his defenses.

“ _This_ ,” Keith begins, his voice raw. “I wasn’t really thinking of _this_ kind of ending.”

“It’s not an ending, Keith,” Shiro half-whispers into the tiny space between their faces. He takes Keith’s hand in his, softly presses his lips on Keith’s palm. “It’s just the beginning.”

Keith pulls his hand back, takes Shiro’s hand with it. He does the same; closes his eyes and places a chaste kiss inside Shiro’s calloused palm. The simple gesture feels pleasantly akin to a silent yet sacred exchange of vows.

When Keith opens his eyes, moonlight pools into his beautiful irises, painting shadows against the delicate contours of his face and neck, illuminating parts of his exposed shoulder and collarbone. The image is something Shiro feverishly tattoos into his memory.

When Keith speaks, his voice is quiet yet indisputably firm and powerful.

“Then you better not go missing again. You’re the biggest thing I have to lose.”

It’s a command. A plea.

It’s a bold exhibition of vulnerability.

Shiro feels like flying, yet simultaneously he is irrevocably tethered to this person beside him. He pulls Keith closer, as close as he could bring them together with the barrier of fabric and skin in the way of their two separated yet incontrovertibly drawn souls. He feels Keith’s heart beating against his own, feels the rise and fall of his chest, feels warmth emanate from where skin meets skin.

“I won’t. And I know you won’t allow that, Keith.”

Keith’s arms wound tighter around Shiro, and Shiro lets himself sink deeper into the touch. He realizes how incomplete he was until the moment Keith happened in his life, how he’s been aimlessly cruising and chasing countless stars when the brightest one has been silently waiting for him all along.

“We should tell your Mom and Dad,” Keith whispers against his chest after a moment. It’s not a question of permission, but a suggestion.

Shiro’s body hums; the truth has never felt so loud and real in his hands.

“Tomorrow,” he whispers back into the top of Keith’s head, his nose buried in the thick crop of hair.

In his chest, a voluminous ball of warmth unfurls. He can’t wait for more tomorrows with Keith.

**Author's Note:**

> finally got this plot off my chest! god that feels good :)  
> thanks for reading fam! comments and kudos are love xoxo


End file.
